Perfectly Heartless
by x Varda x
Summary: Complete! Rodney and Radek activate an Ancient and possibly dangerous robot on Atlantis, which then kidnaps and holds them hostage. But to what end?
1. Reactivated

**Disclaimer:** "Stargate" and all related characters are the property of MGM Television Entertainment.  
**Summary: **Rodney and Radek activate an Ancient and possibly dangerous robot on Atlantis, which then kidnaps and holds them hostage. But to what end?  
**Setting:** Season Three (after Progeny)  
**Rating:** T, possibly rising to M  
**Characters:** Mainly McKay and Zelenka, with a little bit of Sheppard and lot of scary robot.

**A/N:** Written for _**Runts Gal**_ (hope you're still reading!) who requested a Rodney/Radek kidnap story back in August (Genii are so cliché!)

**Chapter 1 - Reactivation**

"Is it safe?" John asked while he poked at the Ancient robot they had found in a newly discovered lab on Atlantis.

Radek gently pushed him aside to get access and said, "Please do not touch, Colonel."

Rodney scowled at Sheppard from the other side of the room, "It was fine until Colonel 'Curious Hands' decided to have a go. You, your gene and Ancient artefacts don't mix, Sheppard. You should know that by now."

Rodney waved his free hand around the brig where they were working and walked over to the solid metal robot lying on a gurney in the middle of the cell. "Anyway, if you really thought it was safe, then why have you got us working on it in here instead of a lab where we would probably have it activated and up talking and walking by now?"

Sheppard stepped back and allowed Rodney to plug the cable of his tablet into the opened head of the inactive robot. The metal it was made out of was smooth and shiny silver, but there were clear mechanical joints where its limbs had been designed to mimic the movements of a human. The joints were enclosed so that the oil used to keep them mobile hadn't dried out or been lost. The eye sockets of the metal skull were dark and the jaw was attached to hinges where it would be able to move in speech had it been active. But there was nothing covering most of it and it had the appearance of a metal skeleton, complete with a leering dark grey toothy grin.

John stepped back, but kept his hands on the P90. It had just been a precaution to wheel the metal humanoid into the brig and strap it down in restraints to a very sturdy gurney. That way, if it posed any danger, they could quickly evacuate the scientists and raise the shield to easily trap it.

The robot was incredibly heavy and it had taken a pulley system to retrieve it from the alcove and place it safely on the gurney where the scientists could get proper access. Rodney vehemently protested against the necessity of moving it; using his arrogance as a shield to stand against Sheppard, so sure he was that he could control it. But Weir had sided with Sheppard in the end; safety was the most important thing to consider.

Sheppard glanced at the robot. Rodney assured him that it wasn't a Replicator, but rather a forerunner to them, constructed entirely of solid and breakable components instead of nanites. Therefore it couldn't self-repair, reshape itself or slither under or through doors like the Replicators could.

How easy it would be to stop the robot if they lost control was another matter though. The silver outer casing looked sleek and new. If time itself couldn't affect it or rust the thick metal, then what would bullets do, if anything?

Rodney clacked on his tablet, while Radek read through some incomprehensible code scrolling across the one he was holding.

"Think, Terminator," Rodney said without even breaking his keystrokes, as though he was carrying on a conversation. It took Sheppard's mind a moment to catch up and he realised that Rodney was now answering his earlier question about safety. "That is, before the computer savvy geeks got their hands on it and turned it into a CG playground."

Sheppard tightened his grip on the P90 and wished he had packed some more grenades and an EMP generator. He said, "That sounds pretty dangerous"

Rodney paused for a moment, but didn't look up. "Oh please, it's inert and inactive."

Radek said, "At the moment, yes. But as far as we can tell it is just out of power."

"I don't want it hurting anyone, McKay," John insisted.

Rodney hummed and carried on typing. "I think we're ready to reinitialise it."

"Do I need to round up some reinforcements?" Sheppard asked.

"What, no!" Rodney said angrily. He shook his head and mumbled, "I thought _I_ was paranoid."

Sheppard tilted his head down slightly and Rodney spared him a sidelong glance. Rodney huffed and conceded, "Alright, alright. I don't know if it's dangerous… yet."

Sheppard nodded and tapped his radio, requesting Lorne to round up a squad of marines, grab some heavy ordinance and get down there on the double.

"Planning on starting a war?" Rodney asked.

Sheppard smiled, "Hopefully not."

While they waited for the marines to arrive, Rodney sighed and frowned at the robot impatiently.

Sheppard looked down at it where it lay and shivered. Rodney was right; it looked so much like a Terminator that he was reluctant to allow it to be activated at all. He turned to Rodney and asked, "Does it have a name?"

Rodney narrowed his eyes at his tablet while he typed. He soon announced, "Its designation is Unit 318."

John looked down at it, deep in thought for a moment and then opened his mouth, but Rodney cut him off, "No."

"What? How do you know what I was going to say?"

"If you want to call it 'Arnie' or 'Arnold' then I'll disown you, Sheppard."

John smiled and shrugged, "Oh well. It was worth a try."

Radek said, "318? Does that mean…?"

Rodney smiled, "Maybe."

"Where are all the others, I wonder?"

John glanced at the robot, "Three hundred and eighteen of these things, but only one on Atlantis. Could be useful if we can control them. Can it speak? Maybe it knows where the others are."

"How are we supposed to know?" Rodney snapped. "It hasn't got any power yet."

"What've you been doing then?"

Radek answered, "Analysing the motor functions and working out how to activate it. Its neural pathways, its 'brain' if you like, is offline and we cannot access it until it has power."

Lorne entered with a group of heavily armed marines. Rodney's eyes widened at the large rocket launcher tube one of them held. He turned to Sheppard in fear, "He's not going to fire that thing in here, is he?"

Sheppard nodded to Lorne as the squad took up strategic positions around the room. He then looked at the man with the launcher and said, "Lieutenant?"

The man stood up straighter, "Heavy ordinance as requested, Sir."

John smiled, "Last resort only, Lieutenant."

"Understood, Colonel."

Sheppard turned back to Rodney, who was still staring in barefaced terror at the weapon. Radek was looking unsettled too. John reassured, "Can't be too careful. We're all set, so… carry on."

Rodney hesitated and began clacking on his tablet. Sheppard couldn't help noticing the slight tremor in Rodney's hands. Radek went over to a case of gear beyond the edge of the inactive forcefield of the cell and retrieved and handful of power crystals. Rodney stuck his fingers directly into the head of the robot and pressed something with a resounding click.

There was a rustle of military issue clothing and the occasional tap of booted feet on the floor as the encircling squad stood ready and tense.

"Ah ha!" Rodney cried triumphantly. A moment later a seam appeared on the smooth metal of the robot's chest. A section lifted up and away and revealed the well protected core.

"Trust the Ancients to make it as human as possible," John said as Radek placed the crystals inside the robot's chest. Instead of being slightly to the left as a human heart was, the heart of the machine was in the centre – in perfect symmetry.

Radek cursed in Czech when he finished and the metal immediately closed and nearly took some of his fingers with it.

He retrieved his tablet and together with Rodney he activated it. There was an audible winding up sound and the eyes lit up to an ominous red glow. Rodney's eyes darted from side to side across the screen and he said happily, "There's so much data!"

The robot's hands twitched and the motor sounds faded as it finished loading up. It moved its right arm up and easily pulled the restraint free with a loud snap. Radek backed off, but Rodney stayed there with his eyes wide in excitement at the data he was skimming on the screen of his tablet.

Sheppard and all the other marines raised their weapons at the robot, ready for what it might do. He shouted, "Turn it off, McKay!"

Rodney held up a placating hand and gabbled, "Hang on, hang on."

The robot moved swiftly for its weight and the ten thousand year slumber it had just endured. It reached up and yanked the cord attached to Rodney's computer out of the top of its head, which quickly sealed over into smooth metal to look like the rest of it.

Sheppard jogged over to the control to activate the forcefield and stood ready.

The robot snapped the remaining three restraints like they were made of tissue paper and swung its metal legs over the side of the bed. Rodney backed off a short distance and looked at it in awe. "That's amazing!"

"Get out of there, McKay," John shouted. With Rodney in the way, no-one could fire at it or they might hit him or the ricochet could bounce the bullets into him.

Rodney turned to Sheppard and rolled his eyes, "Does it _look_ dangerous?"

"It does not look very friendly. Red eyes," Radek said. "Why has it not spoken yet?"

Rodney turned back to it and waved his hands about and then held them away from himself openly. He cooed patronisingly, "Hellooo? Can… you… hear… me?"

The robot slowly turned its red eyes on him, but kept its leering metal skull-like visage completely immobile and unreadable. Its teeth remained clenched shut in a twisted parody of humanity where the Ancients had created it in their own image. It swiftly stood up and kept its eyes fixed on Rodney where it towered over everyone in the room at at least seven feet tall. It raised its right arm and gazed at it as it turned its hand over and flexed the fingers. The index finger suddenly glowed bright orange and it turned on Rodney. It stepped forwards and raised its hand up. It used the glowing finger to jab him very hard in the middle, right in the soft hollow beneath his ribs.

The impact knocked the air out of Rodney, along with his legs out from under him. He was thrown backwards and slid along the floor beyond the pillars marking the edges of the cell. John quickly hit the control and turned the forcefield on.

The robot looked around at them all and then became as still as a statue where it stood staring blankly at the field now trapping it.

Rodney couldn't breathe for a few seconds and kept his eyes screwed tightly closed as he struggled in panic. He suddenly coughed and sucked in a laboured breath. He held a hand over his middle where the robot had hit his solar plexus and furrowed his brow in pain. Radek crouched down and helped him to sit up. Rodney was breathless and pale in fright. He looked up at the robot and gasped, "It… it worked."

"Yes, it did," Radek replied. "But it is more dangerous than we thought."

"You alright, McKay?" John asked.

"I… I…" Rodney coughed again and grimaced.

Radek took the opportunity to grab McKay's wrist and pulled his hand away from the impact area. He frowned down at the watery, almost clear blood soaking into Rodney's clothes. There was a small hole in his shirt where the robot had struck him which was also in the centre of where the fluid was leaking from him.

John came over while the rest of the marines covered the robot, even though it seemed to be safe where it was now behind the field, but they couldn't take any chances. He made Rodney lie back and shoved his shirt up, wincing when the material pulled away from where it stuck in the wound as he knew it might.

Rodney said angrily, "Ouch!"

"It looks like a burn," John said as he studied the small, but perfectly circular area of charred skin. "I think it's a trip to the infirmary for you, McKay."

Rodney's eyes watered in pain and his face tightened with how much it was hurting him.

John helped him up and he whimpered, "Ow ow ow ow," and bunched his hands into fists.

Sheppard turned to Radek and said, "Work on a way to either turn that thing off or control it, while I get McKay checked out."

Radek nodded grimly as he looked away from Rodney and studied his computer.

John indicated for Lorne to stay there with the marines and organise shift rotations if necessary and then pulled Rodney's arm across his shoulders to support the flagging scientist. He radioed ahead to the infirmary that Rodney was coming in with a small, but serious burn.

Before they left the room, John briefly glanced back and shuddered at the sight of the robot where it stood watching all of them with its evil red eyes. He knew he was probably imagining it, but to him it seemed to be calculating and planning something as it watched them all blankly. What was it thinking? Was it even thinking at all or just observing? He had no idea, and the as yet unknown strength and true intentions of the thing shook him to the core.

TBC


	2. Unstoppable

_A/N – Thanks for all the reviews and alerts! Especially as this is just (to my mind anyway) yet another fun way of whumping poor Rodney that I thought I'd share! :P_

_**Chapter 2 – Unstoppable**_

Unit 318 stared out into the room. For all intents and purposes and in the eyes of his creators, he was male. But essentially 'he' was still in actual fact an 'it.' Although the sentience and ability to reason built into his programming made him more human than most of the things his creators had made; which could neither speak nor think for themselves as he could.

His internal clock took the most time to adjust to his reactivation and after a while, it informed him that it had been thousands of years since he was last online, and he was alone. The subspace link was silent, but he knew that if he could find the others, then these new humans, in their innocence and curiosity, could be _persuaded_ to reactivate his fellow units. Time was meaningless to him; he didn't desire to remain switched on or turned off. In fact, he desired nothing at all; other than perfection and the compulsion it gave him to set the galaxy in order, such was his programming.

While he stared, sparks of thought ran through his neural pathways and he analysed them and recorded all that he heard and scanned with his optical sensors.

The two human males who had reactivated him were standing nearby. Even the one he had touched and burnt had come back after a few hours. They were not the same species as his creators. One was slightly larger than the other as they stood side by side; the larger one was the one who had reactivated him.

He had already assessed the threat level. Zero for the two males in front of him, low to medium for the others who carried crude weaponry in their hands. The level was sufficient for him to calculate that he needed to take action or risk being damaged.

These humans were quite similar to his creators; in how fragile and overly sensitive they were to any touch or impact.

He also listened while he stood there.

The smaller of the two, Zelenka, asked, "Are you sure that you are well enough, Rodney? It is a bad burn. I do not mind working on my own until you feel better."

The other man, McKay, held a bright screen in his hand while the other rested against his midsection. He hissed as he twisted to face Zelenka. "No. Not as long as the bandages and pills are keeping me upright. I wouldn't want to miss this!"

Zelenka pushed the two circles of metal attached to his face up against his eyes and sighed. "There is no hurry and you do not look so well."

Unit 318, not programmed with any emotions, could not recognise any in the humans either. Although he had learnt to crudely read expressions in the brief time his creators had used him before they finally managed to stop him and his kind.

McKay mumbled, but Unit 318 could hear all. "It's not just a burn. But a massive bruise too." He straightened up and his pale face tightened as he closed his eyes. "But this is far more important and I wouldn't want you getting all the credit."

Zelenka curled his lips up into a smile, "No, I did not think you would."

McKay tapped on the screen he held and then looked up, right into Unit 318's eyes. He glanced at the tablet again and then said, "That's amazing!"

Zelenka nodded and replied, "I know."

McKay carried on; "It has different tools in each of its fingers, a laser cutting beam in its forearm…" His eyes widened and then he looked across at Radek as he gushed, "An internal DHD!"

Unit 318 kept on glaring out into the room indifferently. The humans had barely scratched the surface of what he could really do. His analysis of the data his silent observing had gleaned informed him that these two humans were most definitely the ones he needed. They were fairly intelligent, as far as humans could go, and maybe they could help him to reach his goal. And if they didn't want to help, then he was sure that he could change their minds.

He flexed his jaw and ran a rapid diagnostic. All the hinges of his face were in order and as perfectly preserved as the rest of him. He moved on to his vocal processor and said, "McKay… Zelenka…"

The two men stopped what they were doing and looked up at him. He shifted his optical sensors down towards them and continued, "I require your assistance."

McKay frowned and said, "So you _can_ speak." His voice rose in pitch as he asked, "Why did you hit me?"

Unit 318 replied in the same even and unreadable metallic voice, "I apologise for that. I believed that you were a threat."

"I turned you back on, Barbeque Fingers, and you thought _I _was a threat?!"

Unit 318 looked on impassively, not being able to process the emotions or to understand some of the words the human used.

Zelenka raised his eyebrows at McKay and then turned to Unit 318. He asked, "How can we help you?"

Unit 318 had been made in order to do his creators' bidding, but they had forgotten to give him the most basic of programming; not a shred of compassion, obedience or morality could be found in him; which was probably why the project had failed so badly. He was so completely devoid of all emotion that his only human trait was his shape. All the Units had long ago leant to lie and manipulate in order to fulfil the only system goal that had ever been programmed into them. The one given to them as part of the very first experiment: Perfection.

His creators had never even had the chance to programme in the second experiment.

The dirty, smelly and weak little creatures surrounding him would _never_ reach perfection, but they could prove useful; especially as they had him caught behind a forcefield. He might be able to break it, but that would not create a good impression and he might get damaged.

He said, "I would like you to lower the forcefield and then I will tell you what I can do."

McKay held up his free hand with the palm facing Unit 318, "No no no! Not after that hit. Besides; Sheppard would never let us, and with good reason."

Zelenka looked down at his screen and agreed, "I am sorry, but it is too dangerous. Besides, your eyes are red."

McKay nodded, "And red is _bad_."

Unit 318 sealed and quickly adjusted his optical sensors. When he opened them again, the two humans were looking up at him and frowning.

McKay stuttered, "Green? How did you do that?"

"I am a machine of my word. If the colour of my 'eyes' is unsettling for you, then I will change them. There is nothing to fear. I was created only to protect." Which wasn't lying outright – the next stage in the project _had_ been to reprogramme the Units to be a new, tireless and unstoppable army for their creators. They had just never got that far before they moved onto other 'more stable' projects and consigned Unit 318 and all his kin to the scrapheap of the planet where he needed to go right now.

"We still can't let you out," McKay said. "Not until we know more."

Unit 318 quickly made his decision. Although only a fraction of a second for a human was time enough for his brain to process thousands of thoughts and calculations, so to him it was an eternity.

He crouched down and placed his fist on the floor.

"What're you doing?" McKay asked.

Unit 318 did not reply. He couldn't yet scan beyond the edges of the forcefield, but for humans to be on Atlantis, they must have access to the stargate in the main tower. He quickly discharged the electro-magnetic pulse.

The blue light spread out and the shield wavered and then came back.

One of the men with the weapons, Lorne, shouted, "McKay. I want that thing deactivated right now before it breaks loose."

McKay and Zelenka both typed frantically on their screens and McKay looked up at Lorne, "We… we can't! Not without direct access to its neural net."

"You're telling us you turned it on and now you can't turn it off?!"

McKay snapped, "I can see why you're _second_ in command to Sheppard!"

Unit 318 stood up and punched his fist into one of the pillars of the cell. He charged up and released another EMP. As the shield wavered this time, he used his other hand to break the pillar and shoved it until it buckled outwards. It tested his strength, but he succeeded. Without the fourth pillar holding the field stable, it flickered out of existence and he was free.

Lorne tapped his ear and shouted, "Colonel, we have a problem!"

McKay stepped back as Unit 318 honed in on him and walked over with a heavy thud from each step of his ton-weight metal frame.

McKay held up his hands, even the one where he was still clutching the screen, and asked with wide eyes and a high voice, "What do you want?"

Unit 318 uttered, "Perfection. However, _you_ are not perfect."

McKay lifted his chin up and said, "Well, huh…"

Unit 318 reached forwards and grabbed the human's lower jaw in his hand and reeled him in.

McKay reached up and grasped Unit 318's forearm with both of his hands and shut his eyes tightly.

Unit 318 loosened his grip slightly when he remembered how humans were so easily broken, and if too badly damaged they ceased to function completely. He recalled that the soft, organic beings were able to self repair to an extent, but more often than not they would run down and eventually stop working all together through his persuasion tactics.

He had to be ever so gentle not to pull the lower jaw right out of this human called McKay in order to coerce him. He was really only testing his power and strength, because all the humans around him needed to learn that he was stronger than they were in every single way.

Unit 318 looked down at McKay and said, "You _are_ imperfect. To admit it is the first step."

Zelenka called out from off to the right of Unit 318, although he could now 'see' everyone using his sensors. "Rodney, what harm would it do to say it? It could kill you if you do not, and it is only your ego."

McKay spoke in a low voice, although it was difficult for him with his jaw trapped, "N-n-no. I'm not p-p-perfect."

Unit 318 rewarded him by running a low electric current down into his hand and through McKay via his grip. McKay's eyes rolled back as he tensed up briefly and then went limp. Unit 318 dropped him to the floor and then rounded on his second target.

Lorne shouted, "Stand back, doc, and we'll shoot it."

Zelenka evaded Unit 318's grasp and small fragments of metal started impacting 318's outer shell. The pings of the bullets were not doing any damage, but any moment now, he knew that a lucky shot to one of the weaker sections might cause minor damage. He re-routed his electric stun charge beam through the EMP generator, plunged his fist into the ground again and electrified the floor.

All the humans in the room quickly fell down and lay still.

Unit 318 grabbed McKay's shoulder and looped his hand under the human's arm, and then took Zelenka by the ankle and dragged them along the corridor. His scans showed him the way and he remembered the corridors like he had been here only a few hours earlier, even though his chronometer told him otherwise.

He was met with little resistance as he proceeded. Sealed doors were easy to pry open. Not many of the humans dared to use their crude weapons against him in case they hit the two he needed.

When he reached the gate room, a single man, Sheppard, stood between him and the gate he had just activated using his internal dialling device.

The human held out his hands and said, "Stop. Whatever you want, we can help you here on Atlantis. There's no need to go offworld."

Unit 318 _did_ stop, and eyed him. Sheppard looked down at the unconscious forms of the two men and then back up at Unit 318, "You don't need to take them with you either. They can help you from here, but not if you hurt them."

Unit 318 said, "There is nothing perfect here. I need the others to help me correct that error. You cannot stop me or make me stay."

With that, he dropped one of the men and shoved Sheppard out of the way. Sheppard fell and slid across the floor, then suddenly stopped moving due to the wall he had just hit. He was too dazed to get up again.

Nothing any of the human's could say or do would change Unit 318's mind anyway.

The robot reached down and grabbed Zelenka's ankle again and dragged him and McKay through the gate to the place where he would finally be able to activate his brethren and together they could reach their goal.

TBC

_A/N - Our psychotic robot friend is modelled on a Borg drone from Star Trek (but without the squidgy bits) I love the Borg so much *sigh*_


	3. Flesh and Chrome

_A/N – Thanks for the reviews! I'm a tad burnt out at the moment, but the kind words of encouragement (and prodding) perked me up a bit. Special thanks to angw, deblease, ElisaD263 and Shadows-of-Realm for the poking – is does work! I actually combined chapters 3 and 4, so this one's double the length to make up for the slow update!_

_Anyway, onto the ouchies…_

_**Chapter 3 – Flesh and Chrome**_

John managed to recover his senses just as the gate shut down. Running high on adrenaline and fear over what the robot had done to Rodney and Radek, he ignored the wrench of the bruises across his back and the throb in his head as he pushed himself upright and shouted, "Did we get the address?"

Chuck called back to him as he jogged up the stairs and into the Control Room. "No. But there might be a record of it in the log."

Elizabeth looked tense where she stood behind Chuck. John knew it was just her way of hiding her emotions, but the mask slipped a little as she said, "And we've just lost our two top scientists who would know how to find the data in a heartbeat."

John grimaced and tapped his radio, "Lorne, this is Sheppard, report."

To his mild surprise, Carson answered, "The Major is out for the count at present, Colonel. Along with everyone else who was in the brig."

Elizabeth frowned. "What happened?"

"We don't know yet. They're all unconscious, but otherwise unharmed." There was a shout and a quiet crash in the background and Beckett called out, "Ach, the other way round!" He lowered his voice to continue, "We're taking everyone to the infirmary to find out."

Elizabeth replied, "Alright. Keep us updated." She then turned to Sheppard. "We need to check the video feeds."

Sheppard nodded and winced at the headache building in his forehead. "I'll get the rest of McKay's science team working on that and finding a way to extract the address that thing dialled."

Elizabeth nodded.

John ignored his headache as he tapped his radio and called the science labs.

Rodney and Radek were out there somewhere with the robot, and nothing and no-one to protect them. But then, if an entire squad of marines couldn't stop it, what chance did they have?

* * *

Radek woke up slowly, wanting to stay unconscious when he realised how much his ankle hurt. The fiery pain spread in burning tendrils right up his lower leg and only got worse the closer he came to breaching the surface of the sleep blanketing him.

The air was chilled and Radek drew his jacket more tightly around himself as he shivered. He pried his eyes open and saw Rodney lying nearby on the hard stone floor. The other scientist was facing him and Radek could see dark bruising along the line of his jaw where the menacing and now green-eyed robot had grabbed him.

"McKay… Rodney… wake up," Radek whispered. He took the opportunity to look around and find out where they had been dumped. The last thing he remembered was standing in the brig trying to hack into the robot and shut it down; clearly without success.

It was a square and small dull-brown concrete room. There were several sealed alcoves against two of the walls facing each other, similar to the ones where he and Rodney had found Unit 318 on Atlantis. There were small control panels by each one, but the casings of the pods were too dirty to see through. There were five on either side of the room; ten in total. There was a blank wall at one end and an open door opposite. There was a dusty smell in the air like the place hadn't been inhabited for years, but it was well lit and sealed from the elements even if Radek instantly knew that they were no longer on Atlantis. He was unsure how they had got there, but he felt the first stirrings of terror in his heart that the robot had somehow managed to escape from Atlantis and had taken them with it.

If the military along with all their guns and rocket launchers had failed, then, as usual, science and brainpower was all that remained. But would be enough in this case?

Radek couldn't see the robot anywhere, but that didn't alleviate his fears, so he gritted his teeth and winced as he shifted himself closer to Rodney and reached out. He gently shook Rodney's shoulder, which produced a pained whimper and a brief flicker of his eyes, but no more.

"Come on… you lazy…"

Rodney said quietly, "If you're going to speak in tongues, you could at least swear a bit."

Radek sighed in relief. He had not even realised he was speaking in Czech and switched back to English, "I will in the future."

Rodney tested his jaw by flexing it up and down a few times. He then moved his hand up to check his teeth were all in place. He winced at the end and then decided better of it, shut his mouth and kept it still.

Radek gave him a small smile as Rodney's eyes finally opened very narrowly and he peered out from under the lashes. Rodney had received a double shock, so it was no wonder he was taking longer to recover.

Rodney fully opened his eyes and glanced around the room just as Radek had done a moment ago. "Where are we? Have you seen ol' green eyes?"

"I do not know. Our radios are gone and he took my scanner."

"It may have different coloured eyes now, but it still creeps me out," Rodney said with a shudder. He then used the arm Radek hadn't just shaken to check his pockets. He pulled out a couple of power bars and an epi-pen for his allergies, but shook his head. "Nope, I've got nothing useful either. Damn thing even took the painkillers Carson gave me."

"The robot, you mean?"

Rodney glared back at Radek like he'd grown a second head and said hotly, "No, the magical pixies."

"It is alright, Rodney, you can calm down."

Rodney closed his eyes and asked, "Where is it?"

"I do not know."

Rodney sighed sadly as he rolled over onto his back and then held his breath as his whole body tensed up. He lightly rested a hand on his stomach as he lay there; right over the burn the robot had inflicted on him.

"What is wrong?" Radek asked in concern while Rodney slowly released a long breath and then sucked in another noisy one with his eyes closed like he was in pain.

"It feels like someone dislocated my shoulder and shoved it back in while I was asleep. Not to mention the fractured jaw and burn from before."

Radek signed and tried to move his leg. He stifled the cry as best he could, but was evidently not too successful, because when he opened his eyes again, Rodney was crouching down next to him. The other man one-handedly examined the offending limb with his other arm held tightly across his chest and his mouth hanging open.

He glared at Radek and kept his jaw as still as possible as he said almost incoherently, "One 'fish' or 'fly goes in' comment and I'll send you to clean out the water filters if we ever get home."

Radek furrowed his brow, "I would not do that to you, Rodney. You spend too much time around Colonel Sheppard."

Rodney looked taken aback, but soon recovered his composure and frowned down at Radek's leg. "Your ankle looks like how my shoulder feels. Can you move it?"

Radek tried again and ended up whimpering. He kept his eyes shut for a lot longer than before, and when he next looked down, Rodney had removed his jacket and was trying to wrap it around a small metal bar he had found from somewhere as a makeshift splint, but only using one hand, he wasn't having a lot of luck.

Radek reached out for it and Rodney shook his head.

Radek insisted, "I have two working hands, hmm?"

Rodney relented with a sigh and allowed Radek to take the jacket and the bar. He checked the metal and finding it sufficiently sharp he used it to make a hole in the jacket and tear it in half.

Rodney cried, "Stop, stop! What're you doing?!"

Radek kept one half and handed the other to Rodney. "One for my leg, one for your arm."

Rodney's angry face fell comically into one of slight indignation and then confusion. He said quietly, "Oh, um, okay."

Together, they soon had Radek's lower leg wrapped and splinted. It felt much better now that he couldn't accidentally move it. He made Rodney sit down with his back to him while Radek remained sitting on the floor. He checked Rodney's shoulder first which was fairly easy as he was just in his short-sleeved shirt. There was lots of bruising and Radek frowned in concern at the large handprint shape which was visible in one section of the unhealthy looking skin. He imagined his leg probably looked the same. He securely strapped Rodney's injured arm up in the sling with the remains of the jacket. As he tied the sleeve around Rodney's neck, he caught a glimpse of the red flash of Canadian flag still stubbornly clinging on in a way not unlike the owner of the jacket.

Rodney stood up after Radek finished and said quietly, "Stay here. I'm going to check out where we are."

Radek frowned at Rodney who was so wide-eyed and fearful. His expression radiated pain and fear; breaking through his surface and showing so clearly on his face that there was no doubt at all as to how he was feeling.

Radek said softly, "You do not have to be brave for _me_, Rodney."

"What?!"

"I mean… be careful."

Rodney's indignation melted away and he said, "Thanks. You too."

"I am merely lying here doing nothing, but I will try."

Rodney gave him a small smile, before he winced and allowed his mouth to hang open again, "Ow! Not such a good idea…" he mumbled with still lips.

Radek watched as Rodney tentatively walked over to the open door leading out into a concrete corridor beyond. He got right up to the exit and then jumped backwards in fright as the monstrous robot, Unit 318, swung around the corner and barred his path.

Rodney held up his free hand as the robot advanced on him. Radek felt his heart rate increase as terror and apprehension flooded his system. He shifted himself upright, and ignoring the pain in his leg as best he could, he shimmied back into the far wall and leant against it.

Rodney was still stepping backwards from the robot. The machine stared down at him and lifted its arms up. It dashed forwards just as Rodney's back hit the wall next to Radek, grabbed the sling and tore it off over his head and dropped it on the floor. Rodney didn't quite manage to stifle his yelp, and he shouted angrily to mask the fear that Radek could almost see and feel radiating in waves off the other man at such close proximity. "What are you doing? What do you want?"

The robot grabbed Rodney's upper arms and he tensed up and whimpered. It shook him lightly and Rodney squeaked more loudly.

The robot's icy and emotionless voice spoke in the same heartless and terrifying monotone as it said, "You will fix the others and reactivate every Unit here."

Rodney gabbled, "If you want to create a perfect galaxy, then you do realise that you're going to have to eradicate everything weaker than yourself."

The robot stopped and waited for him to continue.

Rodney was spurred on by the pause and he spoke faster and faster. "However, your slight variation on the clichéd galactic domination theme is completely flawed. It's more like extermination. Because if _I'm_ not perfect..." he grinned bravely despite the metal vices curled around each of his arms, "…then who is?"

Radek rolled his eyes; trust McKay to be so arrogant even at a time like this and in the face of such danger. Maybe he was trying to outwit it, or reason with it, but Radek was unsure if anything they could say would ever work.

Rodney shot the robot a smug but pained smile and said, "Besides, who will rule over this 'perfect' universe you want?"

Radek looked on in horror and helplessness as the robot replied by tightening its crushing grip. Rodney's entire body went rigid, before he started to shake violently. He stammered breathlessly, "And what if I refuse to help you… you, psycho-robo?"

The robot's eyes flashed from green to red and stayed that way as he said, "You will fix the others or, one by one, I will break every bone in your weak and soft body, and then cut you up into tiny pieces."

Rodney's eyes widened to such an extent that Radek could see the whites all round the irises. Radek was fairly sure he was looking the same way as he felt the deep seated and primal fear of pain and death stir within him too.

The robot abruptly let Rodney go, but before he could fall down or roll out of the way, it suddenly started to hit him over and over again in quick succession with its fists. The metal moved at lightning speed which Radek would never have guessed it would've been able to achieve considering its weight and size. Rodney jolted under each hit to his torso, but despite the blur of the robot's arms, it did not seem to be hitting him very hard.

It was still horrifying to watch and Radek cried, "Please, stop! You're killing him!" They were words edged with such panic that it surprised him and he couldn't even recognise his own voice. But his desperate plea made no difference. He tried to stand up, to shield Rodney if he could from the ongoing assault, but his leg screamed at him more loudly than the whistle of the rapid punches and he sunk down to the floor in a heap, which made him no good for anyone and certainly not Rodney.

When the robot finally finished after what seemed like hundreds of impacts and time immeasurable, Rodney was canting to one side and panting, with his eyes screwed tightly closed and his mouth open. He bent double at the waist and moved his arms up to shakily wrap them around himself.

The robot continued to glare at him impassively and then said, "You will reactivate the others."

Radek frowned and asked, "Why do you not do it yourself?"

Unit 318 moved its head round and tilted it down until those cold, blank eyes met Radek's. He trembled and prayed that the thing wasn't about to hurt him or take it out on Rodney again, who was still breathing heavily and losing his battle with gravity bit by bit as he leant back against the wall, Rodney slowly slithered down a short way before righting himself again.

The robot said, "Because I cannot. My creators did not program me with the coding required to know how to fix myself or the other Units."

Unit 318 looked up at Rodney again and Radek released the breath he had not realised he was holding. Radek was relieved that he was no longer the centre of its attention, but felt a painful twinge of guilt in his heart when it once again affixed Rodney with its eyes. Radek felt the urge to stand up and protect his colleague and friend, but his leg twinged when he tested it and he fell back down with a jolt and a pained grunt.

Unit 318 stared at Rodney and he stared right back as best he could through his watery eyes and pain filled and weary expression. The Unit said, "But you can. You fixed me and you can fix all the others."

Rodney spoke softly, a sign of how badly hurt he was, but Radek was surprised that he could even speak at all. His voice cracked and broke and he had to take long pauses just to breathe, "If you can… d-defeat a squad of marines. Then you're… too dangerous. I certainly don't think… I really want to be activating… any more of you."

Rodney sighed and shook his head as he hung it down and shut his eyes as though waiting for the fatal blow to fall.

Radek felt a burning pride within him that Rodney could be so defiant in the face of such a terrifying and unstoppable foe. He had never seen it firsthand. Sure, there had been times on Atlantis where Rodney had been called upon to save them all from some threat or other facing the whole city. But this was different. This was right there in front of you, gut twisting terror; where the threat was physical and to him personally.

He imagined that Rodney had been through things similar to this on his offworld missions, because he had had his fair share of injuries. But he had always been with his team and when he came back he did the best he could to hide the extent of his suffering from Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon. But Radek was the one who always ended up silently observing Rodney when he went back to work; always far too soon and against the advice of Carson. Radek was the one who saw all the winces and grimaces, the hands Rodney curled against himself wherever he was hurting. Radek would feel so badly that he often took pity on his ailing friend to fetch him food or coffee without Rodney even asking and then ignoring the complaints he threw against Radek (even as he accepted the help anyway) to hide the vulnerability and weakness that his pride would never let him admit.

But this was the first time he had seen the true extent of Rodney's bravery while offworld.

The robot saw nothing of it though and its face didn't move as it leant forwards and grabbed the front of Rodney's left thigh with its right hand, so that the fingers were curled against his inner leg. Rodney struggled to try and break the grip, so the robot placed its other hand on his chest and shoved him back against the wall and held him there.

Rodney's face went red and his eyes slid shut. Radek involuntarily called out again in a breaking voice, "What… what are you…?" And then the reason for Rodney's desperate and futile fight and his bright red face became clear. His chest was compressed and still under the hand, having no room to expand due to the pressure pinning him against the concrete wall, and Radek shouted, "He can't breathe. Stop! You must stop now!"

Rodney flinched and tensed up and Radek saw an orange glow as foul smelling smoke rose away from the hand it held pressed against Rodney's leg. Rodney opened his mouth in a silent 'o' and then the robot let go and he fell to the floor. He convulsed, and now that he had air again, he was finally able to fully voice his complaint, so he threw his head back and screamed. Radek flinched and grimaced at the pitch and volume that Rodney was capable of achieving. It was no whine or whimper, but a full on, animalistic howl of agony. His eyes rolled back as the tremors wracking his body eased off and then he became still and his mouth hung open slackly in unconsciousness.

The robot stood there, looking down at the two men who lay on the floor. It kept its gaze on Rodney, almost like Radek didn't exist. But then, it _had_ been Rodney who had pressed the fateful sequence of keys which had finally activated the robot. Radek was grateful that he was not being scrutinised so unpleasantly, but the only attention Rodney needed right now was of the medical variety and not from his tormentor.

The robot suddenly spun away from them and plodded along the floor before it stopped near the door. It did not block the exit, but turned to face into the room and then remained completely still where it stood. Radek assumed it thought its work was done and that Rodney had been sufficiently persuaded to now do everything it asked.

Radek shifted himself over to be close enough to Rodney to try and use his limited first aid skills to find out how badly he was hurt. He winced and cringed in sympathy at the state of Rodney's bare arms where he lay spread out and unconscious on the floor. The skin was covered in bruises in the shape of handprints of varying shades of purple, black and even some patches of skin looked _green_.

Radek didn't really want to look at the rest, but he knew he had to in order to find out how badly Rodney was injured. Radek slowly lifted Rodney's shirt up to check over the rest of his still form. He found that much of McKay's body was now covered in Technicolor bruising. Not being a medical doctor though, he could not test for serious internal bleeding. But most of the injuries caused by the punches looked superficial, although added together; he knew that Rodney was going to be incredibly achy and sore when he woke up.

The last thing he checked was the inside of Rodney's upper leg. The material of his trousers was burnt and melted into his flesh, which was reddened and black in places. He couldn't pull it away without causing more damage, so he left it in place. There were four very nasty looking burns on the sensitive skin there and they had now made the prospect of running out of this place impossible for Rodney too. It was unlikely he would even be able to _walk_ again for quite some time, at least not without it causing him a lot of pain.

His skin was cool to touch, despite the sheen of sweat, when Radek patted the side of his face to try and rouse him. Rodney was also shivering violently which must've hurt like hell with the mottled bruises all over him. So Radek stripped off his own jacket, gasping slightly as the chilled air hit him, and wrapped it around Rodney's upper body.

They needed either more heat or some blankets if they were to survive, and it seemed that the robot either didn't know or realise. But then he knew that although it clearly didn't _care_ for their wellbeing, it could at least prevent them from dying from hypothermia if it needed their help. Goosebumps rose on Radek's arms and he was glad that he opted to wear the long sleeved shirt, unlike Rodney whose arms were bare and swollen where the robot had crushed them.

He heard a small groan and Rodney twitched and parted his legs to keep the pressure away from the burns. Radek looked up at him and saw Rodney's eyelids flicker and then close in the midst of his face. His skin shone with perspiration and his shirt was becoming equally soaked with it along with the bloody plasma from the burns leaking into the trouser material.

"Rodney?" Radek asked tentatively as he moved up and placed his hand on Rodney's forehead briefly and then pulled it away in embarrassment at the contact.

His answer was a tiny moan and whimper. Rodney trembled violently and kept his face scrunched up tightly as he struggled to breathe evenly. His injuries must be horrendously painful and were clearly still causing him considerable distress.

"Oh, Rodney, what did it _do_ to you?"

He winced and mumbled, "Did you get the plate of the bus that hit me?"

"It had a '3-1-8' in it," Radek said in a grim voice with his brow deeply furrowed.

"Oh," Rodney uttered with a crestfallen sigh. He then grimaced, with his eyes still closed, "P-pummelled by m-metal bars…"

His bloodshot eyes suddenly snapped open and he shot Radek an intense look which in any other situation would have had him stepping backwards to avoid the stream of shouting and curses about to follow. But Rodney merely said, "I c-c-can't stop it. The robot won."

Radek saw some of his own fear mirrored in Rodney's terrified face, but the lines of pain quickly overshadowed the fear and Radek felt the need to comfort Rodney. But he wasn't quite sure exactly how to do it without giving the wrong impression. McKay was his boss after all, but despite the rank and disagreements they often had, Rodney was still a human being and clearly in need of some form of physical contact to let him know that he wasn't alone. Radek settled on laying his hand on Rodney's forehead, which was about the only part of him not shaded with bruising and where Radek knew his touch wouldn't cause any further harm or pain.

Rodney glanced up at the hand and then looked at Radek again. His lips trembled as he said, "You should go. Get back to the gate while I keep the robot busy. T-tell them to bring that rocket launcher. B-but a nuke would probably be better to blow this whole place to dust."

Radek frowned and said firmly, "No."

"But…"

"I said, _no_. We stop it together and then we both leave together. You will not die and neither will I."

Rodney looked up at him with a strange expression. Was it gratitude? Had he actually meant what he said or just hoped that he could trust Radek to refuse such a request, but felt the need to make it anyway?

Rodney shifted slightly and closed his eyes as he held his breath. He released the air in a whimper at a newly re-awakened pain somewhere in his damaged body, and the moment between them abruptly vanished.

Rodney was in too much pain to offer any more coherent sentences after that and Radek turned to the statuesque robot and said, "Water. I need water and cloth to clean him up or he will get an infection,"_ and die._

The robot remained still and ignored his request.

Radek asked again, more forcefully, "We need heat and water and food or we will die and not be able to fix your friends."

The robot could have been a model, because all it did was stand there and keep its glowing eyes fixed on the opposite wall.

Radek sighed and retrieved the sling that the robot had torn from Rodney's arm. He used it to loosely bind up Rodney's thigh. He could at least get the open wounds covered, but Rodney needed help, and quickly, if he stood a chance of surviving the ordeal.

Radek quickly altered his thoughts as he glanced back at the menacing evil red eyed robot again, and decided that actually, they _both_ really needed a rescue right about now.

TBC


	4. Rodney's Weakness

_**Chapter 4 – Rodney's Weakness**_

Unit 318 stared out into the room. But for him, patience was not something he recognised or had to endure. He could wait for thousands of years, not so much as moving a single inch, without growing bored or restless. While he waited for McKay to regain consciousness, he bided his time by continuing to scan everything to the fullest extent of what his sensors could show him.

The facility was exactly how he remembered. His creators had placed the stargate in the centre of the building and the power reserves had not drained even after all this time remaining dormant. The facility's main power only activated when he got there just as he knew it would. The security features had left many skeletons littered around the gate room, some fresher than others. The laser turrets aimed at the gate had recognised one of their own and had not blasted Unit 318 or the organic creatures he had brought with him.

He adjusted his sensors back to the room where he was standing. The other man he had taken, Zelenka, was helping McKay where they both lay on the floor. Unit 318 scanned them both. Zelenka's ankle had a minor fracture but it was not affecting him too seriously, other than a slightly higher heart rate along with the associated and occasional vocalisations. He could not walk though, at least he would not be able to do so very quickly or easily.

McKay was more badly hurt. The lack of oxygen had caused him to fall unconscious, but he also had some contusions and burns. Why it was affecting him so badly was beyond the programming of Unit 318, but he could use it to his advantage. He already knew that a small flame applied to any part of a human's vulnerable and fragile flesh could elicit them to do almost anything after a time. Some areas were softer or more sensitive and would therefore make them co-operate more quickly and work faster.

While he stood there, he heard Zelenka constantly asking him for food, water, bandages, heat... Unit 318 also knew that what Zelenka requested was needed, but to speed up their co-operation, he had to deny them access to such things.

The food and water that these speech/thought-capable animals required in order to function had always puzzled Unit 318. It passed through them and was used and altered to keep them active and functioning within normal parameters. The first humans Unit 318 had captured had been plugged into the central power conduit to recharge; the same as all the Units. But instead of their batteries being filled, it had nullified them; turning their flesh black and deep red in the process.

Unit 318 and all the others had been given a 'do not kill humans' directive after that trial mission. But they had found a way to circumvent it, for it only prohibited them from striking a direct blow that would kill a man. There was nothing stopping them from hurting humans or denying them access to the basics. If they then died from complications later on… that was of no consequence.

McKay started to come round again in a series of whimpers and moans. Unit 318 scanned him again; his heart rate was up, but not dangerously so.

Zelenka shushed him, and they whispered quietly together, thinking they couldn't be overheard. Unit 318 listened and calculated.

"Why isn't it moving?" McKay asked.

"I do not know. I believe it is waiting for us to fix the others."

"It… it looks like it's shut itself down."

Zelenka looked over at the robot. "But the eyes…"

McKay scrunched up his face and his heart rate increased further. He sighed and said, "I know, but it was nice to have a little hope that B1-66ER over there could find at least _some_ redeeming qualities in itself and let us go."

"B1… who?"

McKay frowned, "The Matrix?"

Zelenka shook his head.

"Never mind. Get Sheppard to show it to you when you get back."

Zelenka gently placed his hand on Rodney's face and said softly, "_You_ can show me when we both get back."

Neither man made any move to get up and start working on activating the others. So, once Unit 318 detected that McKay's heart rate had slowed sufficiently for the robot to continue his persuasions, he turned his head and walked swiftly over to them and stopped. He looked down at McKay first and the man held up one of his arms and shielded his head. Unit 318 could see his body trembling as Zelenka said, "Please, do not hurt him again."

McKay uncovered his head and frowned at Zelenka. "It's alright, Radek. What's one man against an army of crazy Cylons?"

Sparks of electricity flew through Unit 318's metallic brain and it shifted its gaze from McKay and onto Zelenka. If direct physical damage to McKay had not worked, then there was always the second option…

It reached down and grabbed Zelenka's injured ankle and squeezed. The human it was now injuring screamed as loudly as the other one. Unit 318 had no idea why humans cried so when they were damaged. It had no comprehension of the pain and suffering it inflicted upon the living beings it tortured. Its only goal was the achievement of its programming, how it got there did not matter. No amount of reasoning, pleading or begging for mercy from its victims could ever work on the robot because it didn't understand or even recognise such things.

McKay pushed himself painfully upright and turned his wide eyes on the robot. He was shouting and gabbling the whole time for Unit 318 to stop. But then the robot heard the exact thing it wanted to hear: "Stop stop stop! I'll do it, please just stop!"

Unit 318 released its grip and dropped Zelenka's leg. He curled up and moaned as he shook uncontrollably. Unit 318 scanned him; his ankle was crushed more seriously than before, but it would heal… in time.

Unit 318 turned on McKay and then pointed at the first alcove. He said, "Reactivate the others and I will not damage either of you any further."

McKay nodded and looked down at Zelenka, "I'm sorry, Radek. It didn't give me a choice. I hope this works."

Zelenka whispered harshly, "Don't, Rodney. Don't do it."

McKay shook his head and limped slowly over to the first alcove. He kept his legs parted as he went and curled one of his hands around his chest while the other hung limp. Unit 318 could detect torn ligaments and muscle damage in his shoulder where he had forced the bone back into the joint after its dislocation. He needed McKay to be able to work, which he would not have been able to do with such an injury distracting him or restricting the movement of his arm.

Unit 318 took up his position by the door again and waited.

McKay tapped the control panel by the first alcove. Unit 318 had detected that McKay was one of the few who had the correct activation code within his blood. Zelenka did not have it, so his only use now was to assist in making the other one work faster.

McKay suddenly hummed a single low and brief note and then glanced over at Unit 318, but the robot couldn't recognise the expression or any emotion, or even the significance of it if there had been one.

McKay typed furiously fast, ignoring the damaged tissue in his shoulder to bring his other hand in and increase the output. He spoke while he typed. "This one's now got power and about to be fully up and running. I just need to input the correct activation sequence, which, of course, being a total genius, I remember it even without my computer."

Unit 318 thought that the humans, with their frail bodies imprisoned in flesh, were odd in that such fragile and fleeting creatures could accomplish so much. Especially this one called McKay. How could he reactivate one of the Unit's so quickly without the aid of a mechanical brain to hold and process all the information?

McKay gritted his teeth and pressed a few more keys before hobbling backwards and watching.

The alcove hissed open and Unit 600 stepped out.

Zelenka gasped, "Rodney, what have you done!? Now there are two of them to kill us!"

McKay nodded at the new Unit, which looked exactly like Unit 318, right down to the red eyes and metal skull.

Unit 600 looked down at McKay, and then at Zelenka, before finally settling its glowing eyes on Unit 318. It then turned to McKay who smiled at it and then pointed at Unit 318, and then down at his own battered body before he said, "That one did this to me."

"_Rodney?_" Zelenka asked.

McKay jumped and then quickly pointed at Zelenka, "And it hurt him too."

Unit 600 stared, but didn't move, and neither did Unit 318

Unit 318 said to McKay, "There are four more in this room alone. Activate them all or I will deactivate Zelenka."

McKay held up his hand to Unit 318 and gabbled, "There will be no '_deactivating_!' I'll get them fixed, but we need food and water. If all your nuts and bolts held together by madness can even comprehend that in your dense metal brain." He spoke slowly and lifted his uninjured arm to motion with his hand, he pointed to his mouth and said slowly, "Must... eat... food..." His hand fell and he winced before continuing. "I'm hypoglycaemic. I suppose you don't know what that is? Well, it means if I don't eat regularly, I get really, _really_ cranky and then I die."

He aimed the last part about dying at Unit 600. But it kept as still as Unit 318.

McKay huffed towards the new addition to the room and said, "It's like talking to a couple of crushed cars! Fine then. I'll have to do it the hard way." He widened his eyes at Unit 600 as he said, "But you'd better not just stand there like a metal moron."

"Rodney, what are you doing?" Zelenka asked.

McKay didn't answer as he lurched and whimpered his way over to Unit 318 by the door. He gestured out through the archway as his eyes darted nervously from the door to each of the robots and then to Zelenka. "If there's food in this place, I'm going out to find some. Don't hurt Zelenka."

McKay tried to limp past Unit 318, but the robot was faster. It placed a heavy hand on McKay's chest and sent him backwards to the floor. It then crouched down and pressed its hand in the middle of the human's upper chassis to keep him still, right over his power core. It brought its other hand down and placed one of the fingers against McKay's lower abdomen. It extended the blade several millimetres and pushed it inside the squirming human. It was not enough to kill, but it should certainly stop the human from thinking it had any power and to quash any further thoughts of escape.

Unit 318 knew that dragging sharpened metal across a human's outer shell or using it to penetrate them would draw a thick red liquid out. It seemed that this was like their battery fluid, and without it, or if they lost too much of it, they would cease to function at full capacity. Even replacing it with a similar compound could not get them to function again once operation had ceased; unlike the Units, who can be reactivated and repaired at any time even after serious damage and deactivation.

McKay was making unusual and quiet gargling noises and pushing his weak and small hands feebly against the robot, so Unit 318 twisted the blade it held inside the human's gut to cause the most pain and damage possible. It then pressed down on the fairly sturdy shell of bones around McKay's core, but the chassis had no strength against the weight of the metal. It crushed McKay until it felt him break with a loud snap and loosening popping sounds. The human then abruptly stopped squirming and went limp. Unit 318 could still feel the gentle tap of the man's inner core against his hand as it beat quickly inside him. When he lifted his hand away and removed the blade from the shallow stab wound, the man did not start breathing again and he remained on standby.

Unit 318 was about to call Zelenka to assist in reinitialising McKay, when he felt strong hands grabbing him and lifting him upwards.

He turned to face his attacker and found Unit 600 had moved over to intervene. The new Unit called to Zelenka in an identical voice in pitch and speed to Unit 318's. "He has stopped breathing. Can you repair him? I have no breath to give."

Unit 600 used the laser cutting tool on its forearm to scythe several deep gashes into the metal of Unit 318's upper chassis. The heat quickly melted right through and Unit 600 then jammed its metal hands into Unit 318 and punctured his inner core with the tools of fire inside its fingers.

Unit 600 repeated the same phrase over and over while it worked; "Error! You are defective. Error! You are defective. Error! You are defective…"

It grabbed and pulled out the power crystals, leaving Unit 318 to slowly shut down as the reserves of the power circulated his systems and were used up. His last vision was of McKay lying blue faced and still as Zelenka pinched his nose and blew air into him.

As his core finally lost power, Unit 318 fell to the ground, his only thoughts were of indifference. This other Unit was the imperfect one, even if these humans left this place, then others would return in the future. Eventually they would activate one of the other Units which shared the same programming as Unit 318 – the only true goal of their creators. There was no way that Unit 318's deactivation could prevent it from happening.

Perfection would be achieved for all.

_TBC_

_A/N – B1-66ER was the first robot to kill a human in The Matrix universe. See The Animatrix – The Second Renaissance - which also heavily influenced a lot of our psychotic robot friend's inner workings in this chapter..._


	5. Terminated

_**Chapter 5 – Terminated**_

Radek had to blow air into Rodney's lungs several times before he was finally rewarded when the man beneath him twitched, inhaled a long rattling breath and then released it in a whimper.

Radek shifted around and grabbed his own jacket which Rodney had dropped to the floor in his insane eagerness to get himself killed. He tried to ignore the scream of pain in his crushed ankle, but couldn't stop the cry escaping his lips as his limb jarred with each pull of himself across the floor.

The new robot, their saviour, now stood over the remains of Unit 318. A small plume of smoke rose from the ruined metal of the enemy robot where its power cells had been destroyed.

Rodney was lying so still, he was almost lifeless. But at least he was now breathing on his own, although with difficulty, even though he was bleeding and broken.

Radek moved over and glanced down at the blood spreading out and soaking through Rodney's shirt from the wound in the centre of his lower abdomen. He had no idea what the robot had done to him, as his sight had been obscured by his own pain and terror at the time.

Rodney was not only Radek's boss, but a man who he considered to be his friend too. But Rodney was now so silent, vulnerable and still for once in his life, and so very human and fragile. But icy fear filled Radek at his realisation that Rodney was human and weak and had been seemingly so easily rendered this way.

Radek had to push up Rodney's shirt to gain access to the injury and gauge how bad it was before attempting to stop the bleeding. He winced when he saw it. It wasn't a burn this time, but a single circular penetrating wound. It looked fairly deep and was positioned just below the hollow of Rodney's belly button. Blood oozed out across the pale skin and Radek quickly pressed the jacket against it and tucked part of it into the waistband of Rodney's trousers to keep it in place and maintain the pressure.

Rodney moaned and coughed harshly. Radek looked up at him, but Rodney's eyes remained closed as he spoke weakly, "What happened? D-did it work?"

"Yes," Radek snapped with more anger than he had intended. He cursed Rodney's actions and how badly he was hurt because of it. It may have destroyed the robot, but he had no right to do such a thing. They could've worked on the solution together.

"Rodney, you are even stupider than the one track minded robot over there."

"Gee, th-thanks, Radek. Under your loving care, I f-feel better already!" He winced and scrunched up his face as he mumbled, "I think something fairly vital inside me's broken."

Radek kept the jacket in place over the stab wound and pushed Rodney's shirt up the rest of the way with his free hand. He baulked at the extent of the bruising and the unnatural curve and movement of Rodney's chest.

He tried to hide his concern, but his voice still wavered and betrayed the lie as he said, "Do not worry, Rodney, we will soon have you home where the infirmary staff can 'prod and poke' you all day long."

Rodney winced and coughed, "That just sounds painful."

"It was a very brave thing you did. Especially knowing that it might not work."

"Hey! I knew it was going to work! And it did, didn't it?" Rodney said indignantly, although the effect was diminished by the trickle of blood which ran from the corner of his mouth. He coughed again and moved his hand over Radek's to clutch his lower abdomen tightly. "Ow."

Tears leaked from the corners of Rodney's eyes and ran down his bruised face. He gritted his teeth as he struggled to pull air into his body to keep himself alive. His chest moved jerkily and he whimpered and sobbed.

Radek didn't quite know what to do with him. Rodney was supposed to be the strong one. Radek sighed sadly and tentatively reached out to Rodney and placed a hand on his forehead - the only part of him not bruised or broken, burnt or bleeding. Rodney sniffed sadly and winced, before becoming quiet. Radek took that as encouragement and said, "It is alright, Rodney, I am sure Colonel Sheppard has already found a way to reach us."

"And if he hasn't?" Rodney gasped and coughed again; blood speckling his lips.

Radek turned to the new Unit and asked, "Can you help us? My friend is hurt and we need to get him back to the stargate."

The red-eyed robot turned to look down at them, and Radek flinched as the thing's eyes met his. But it moved swiftly and as it approached it spoke towards Rodney, "His upper frame is broken and discontinues in places. Vital organs; heart, lungs, intestine, have been compromised."

Rodney mumbled, "And the rest…"

Radek was shocked, Rodney was in worse shape than he imagined. He had hoped that the stab wound had not gone so far as to hit anything important. But despite Rodney's teammates' frequent, unkind and unfounded complaints about his podgy belly, it wasn't enough to protect him from the damage caused by the depth of the injury. If his bowel had been cut into, like the new and hopefully _good_ robot claimed, then it would already be leaking its poisonous waste into his bloodstream. There really wasn't a lot of time before a life threatening infection took hold. That was if Rodney managed to keep breathing through his damaged lungs and his heart kept going for that long.

Rodney closed his eyes and Radek patted his face. "Rodney, you must try to stay awake, at least until we are safely back on Atlantis."

But Rodney ignored him and his head dropped to the side limply as he fell unconscious and his breathing became shallower and more laboured as the vital seconds ticked by.

The robot turned to Radek and said, "You have a broken ankle."

"I did suspect that was so."

Radek glanced at Rodney as his life gradually slipped away in silence. Rodney was not supposed to die like this. Not alone, and certainly not without a good fight or argument. And absolutely not for Radek's sake.

If Rodney's injuries killed him, then Radek would probably be asked to take over the role of Chief of Science on Atlantis. But he was unsure he would ever be able to accept such a position. It was bad enough when Rodney was hurt and he had to take over temporarily, but knowing that Rodney had died (and for Radek) so that he could be promoted, would never sit well with him. His own feelings of guilt would destroy him very quickly; the very idea was abhorrent to him.

He needed to be stubborn and strong and heroic to get them both through this; just like Rodney McKay himself.

He turned to the robot and ordered, "Carry him. And help _me_. We must hurry back to the stargate."

The robot obeyed without question and the terror clutching Radek that it would try to attack diminished, but was entirely replaced by a deeper feeling of fear that Rodney was not going to last the time it took them to get back. Neither of them had radios or GDOs and Atlantis would never lower the shield on a whim, even if they knew where the scientists had been taken. There was too much of a risk that they would lower the shield, only to be invaded by a whole army of murderous psychotic and relentless killing machines.

The friendly robot crouched down and gathered Rodney up into its arms surprisingly gently. It held out one elbow and Radek grabbed on and as the robot stood up straight very slowly, Radek was pulled up too. He kept all his weight on his good leg, but the fracture in his other one ached and burnt unmercifully and he found that his eyes watered and he gritted his teeth from it, just as Rodney had done before he had become unaware of the world.

The robot moved at a steady speed, but not too quickly, just enough to allow Radek to hop alongside using the sturdy, but cold, metal as a crutch. He winced and cried out at the jarring, but he still did it, he _had_ to do it, for Rodney.

It turned out that the room they were in was one of several surrounding a massive circular room where the gate was. Radek could see the guns in the ceiling, sleek, as was the Ancient's design, but dormant. They were all aiming towards the gate and Radek could see their victims littered throughout the room. Skeletons of varying degrees of freshness and a stale smell of decay hung in the air, but they pressed onwards and Radek even managed to resist the urge to gag through the terrible pain and the death surrounding them. There and then, he outright refused to let Rodney become just another one of the corpses on the floor. He snorted at that; some of Rodney's stubbornness had worn off on him, but that was to be expected when he worked day in and day out with the man. He had found out long ago that the only way to deal with the biting wit and comebacks that made up Rodney McKay, was to give as good as you got.

"Carefully place him by the dialling device, please," Radek asked his clunking and totally obedient companion.

It did as asked and Radek narrowed his eyes as he transferred his leaning weight from the robot and onto the DHD podium.

He suddenly had an idea and asked, "Do you know where our equipment is? Rodney mentioned he had some pills, I had a scanner and we both had radios."

The robot stood completely still and stared out impassively. Radek sighed, it was obviously not going to help them. He glanced down at Rodney, who was now breathing in fits and starts and the jacket against his midsection was soaked through with blood which glistened in the artificial lights.

The robot suddenly turned around and stalked away. Radek's good leg was shaking under the strain of supporting most of his weight. He desperately longed to sit down, but he knew that if he did that, he would not be able to get back up again. He also had no idea how to collapse to the floor without the jarring through his body transferring to his injured leg and making the pain so bad he would probably scream.

Rodney breathing was causing Radek pain just to listen to it, so he certainly didn't need any more. He contemplated dialling Atlantis right then, but knowing that it would be futile, he forced himself to wait for the stomping metal feet of the heavy robot to get louder as it returned to him… which it did a minute later.

It held up its loosely closed hand and dropped their equipment into Radek's outstretched hands.

He turned to the robot and said, "Thank you. Please can you go back and wait in the alcove?" So that it wouldn't see the address to Atlantis. Not that it mattered too much with the shield they had to protect them.

It nodded and walked away. Radek had no idea what Rodney had done to it in the brief time he was activating the machine, but he fully intended to ask him when he was better, as he desperately tried to convince himself that everything was now going to be fine.

He hammered the address and sent through his IDC. Not even bothering with the radios as he slowly made his way to the floor with the help of the DHD. He crawled over to Rodney's unmoving supine form. The tantalising pool of blue seemed miles away and the pain was so awful… but he had to do it for Rodney, and he did. He grabbed Rodney's good arm and dragged his dead weight all the way across the impossible gulf and through the gate.

When his eyes saw the familiar floor in the Atlantis control room he collapsed down and mumbled, "Raise the shield behind us." There was a familiar swish as it did.

He heard shouts for medical teams and other calls of joy turning to concern, but the sounds all swirled together and were lost to him as the floor rose up and met him head on. Then there was only silence and darkness.

* * *

Rodney was pale and shaky as the infirmary staff pumped his body full of drugs to fend off the infection trying to take over him from his punctured intestine. Carson had reassured everyone that a course of strong anti-biotics should get the little blighters causing Rodney's illness in no time, unless they were tougher than the usual Pegasus Galaxy nasties.

The implement used to pierce Rodney's abdomen had been about the size of a penknife, but much shorter. Carson had found evidence of twisting, and somehow Radek already knew this to be the case, as he had witnessed the horrendous torture Rodney had endured and he remembered some of Rodney's agonised screams (even above his own).

Rodney was kept sedated while on a ventilator for a few days after his return to Atlantis, to help his badly crushed chest and multiple rib fractures to heal, along with the many associated internal injuries.

Carson said it had been touch and go for a while, but once Rodney was on oxygen and was no longer alone when it came to breathing, he had started to get better very slowly. His stab wound had been sealed and bandaged and most of the bruising and burns he had sustained were hidden beneath the sheet pulled up to mid-chest level. But the visible portion of bare skin above the sheet was black and blue. And his jawline seemed to change colour each day as it got better, purple to black, then green and yellow.

Radek had his ankle placed in a cast after it had been set, and now spent what little time he felt like being mobile, hopping around on crutches. Although he mostly stayed in the infirmary, waiting for McKay to get better and being hypnotised by the hiss and sigh of the ventilator nearby. Carson had even wheeled up another bed so that he could stretch out his leg and not be forced to sit cramped and in pain in one of the flimsy plastic chairs. The throb lessened after that so he was grateful. It also allowed Rodney's team to visit him and use said chairs to sit between the beds.

Radek got some work done on his tablet while he sat there. But going over the data they had downloaded from the robot just made him all the more anxious about Rodney's condition and what they had both been through.

John had visited many times, as had Teyla and Ronon. They told Radek that the address of the robot facility didn't work anymore and they had requested the Daedalus to check it out.

Lorne had come down too. Radek had wanted to dismiss his apology as unnecessary, but ended up accepting it; if only to stop the Major from feeling guilty for no reason.

Elizabeth visited as well, her face full of concern and worry as she glanced over Rodney's damaged body. She even thanked Radek. Thanked_ him!_ For getting them both back, even though they were hurt. Radek had explained what happened to both her and Sheppard, as well as writing it up in a report. No matter how many times he pressed the fact that it was Rodney who saved them both, they still gushed their praises for Radek and he felt guiltier than ever that Rodney had been so badly hurt and he had _only_ broken his ankle.

So that was where Radek was a few days later, sitting on the bed next to Rodney's, tapping away on his tablet and feeling thoroughly miserable as his ankle ached and throbbed despite the cast and painkillers and where he had it resting on a soft cushion. The tube had been removed from Rodney's airway and he had been taken off the sedatives to allow him to wake up when he felt strong enough.

Radek checked through the base code of the robot for the umpteenth time and sighed. There was a sudden small cough and a groan next to him. He shook himself away from the soul-destroying and guilt inducing work and glanced across at the source of the quiet sound.

He was glad when he saw a pair of watery blue eyes looking back at him, as he hadn't seen Rodney's eyes for days, but then, neither had he seen the other man move or even breathe properly under his own volition for quite a long time. But Rodney was looking at him blankly.

Radek startled, "Rodney!"

"Radek? What happened? I… I… It hurts..."

McKay turned his face away and closed his eyes very tightly with his brow furrowed. He drew in a shallow and shuddering breath and started to shake. He grimaced and bunched his hands into fists as his chest rose up a short way and then stayed still. His knuckles went white and his pale face turned pink at the effort as he held his breath.

Carson had been alerted already by the rapid bleep of the heart monitor and quickly came over. His touch and words were gentle as he soothed Rodney while Radek looked on helplessly.

The softly spoken words Carson said floated back to Radek, "It's alright, Rodney. This should help with the pain." He injected something into one of the many lines feeding Rodney fluids and drugs. "You're safe and you'll be feeling sound again very soon too. You have to breathe though or else I'll have put you on the ventilator again and that'll only make your throat sore again. Breathe now; in and out, deeply and slowly." Carson straightened up with a nod of satisfaction. "There you are."

Carson gave Rodney a tiny sip of water and by the time he walked away, after checking that Radek was comfortable too, Rodney was asleep and his face was smooth again.

* * *

A couple of weeks later, Rodney had already discharged himself from the infirmary and any form of prescribed rest. He was back in the labs, hunched over a laptop with his arm in a sling where his shoulder had been dislocated. He still had to be forced to return to the infirmary regularly for check-ups and painkillers, but his chest was getting better each day, even though he winced whenever he shouted, and Radek often saw him with his eyes closed in pain and his free hand curled around his ribcage.

Radek still had the cast wrapped around his lower leg and crutches were leaning within reach on the table next to him.

As he worked, he kept an eye on Rodney.

He had managed to get the information out of Rodney as to how he created a good robot. The other scientist had told him that he had implemented a simple alteration in the robot's base code to get it to become instantly friendly and to quash its murderous intentions. He had reactivated the ethical subroutines, the ones which prevented all harm coming to humans, and adjusted it so that its purpose was to obey and assist humans in any way they asked (except if it meant hurting or killing other humans).

Other than that, Rodney had not really said very much at all since they had returned. He seemed to have withdrawn in upon himself, which was not really surprising, considering the extent of his injuries and how close he had come to dying back in the facility. But it was sad to see him that way and even though Radek tried his best to coax him out of the shell, he didn't have any success.

Radek was contemplating giving it another go that afternoon and trying to engage Rodney in conversation, when they were both called to the Briefing Room. It was about time, as the Daedalus was due to have visited the robot planet that morning.

Radek hopped and his crutches clicked, while Rodney moved stiffly beside him with a permanent grimace on his pale face. His breath still rattled and wheezed as he struggled to move properly, but if he was too stubborn to get his pain meds topped up regularly, well, there wasn't a lot that Radek or anyone else could do about it.

* * *

As it turned out, the facility was now no more than a massive blackened crater in the ground. How it had happened and why, was unknown. Rodney remained silent and pensive as he held his hand against his lower abdomen, so Radek had to speculate; "It may have figured out that the others were dangerous to humans. Based on what Unit 318 did to us, a logic error possibly formed between the routines Rodney re-activated, and the actions of Unit 318.

"I suspect it did something to the gate to make it explode, or used the power from the facility to cause an overload."

Sheppard said, "Caldwell and the IOA won't be very pleased about losing such a massive facility full of ruthless machines."

Elizabeth added, "I know, but seriously, would you want even a single one of those things on Earth? " She then looked at Rodney, "Especially when it took the most intelligent man in two galaxies to outwit it?"

Rodney looked up at her, but his face didn't alter and he sighed before returned his gaze to stare resolutely at the table in front of him with his expression guarded and tight with pain.

They went through a few other possibilities, but Rodney said nothing other than to occasionally grunt in agreement, but only when he was asked.

The meeting was over quickly and Radek retrieved his crutches to stand, but Sheppard told him to stay put. John placed his hand on Rodney's unhurt shoulder as the scientist tried to get up and said, "No. You're not going anywhere just yet, McKay."

Rodney frowned at him and Radek turned to watch the others leaving the room. Elizabeth gave him a small nod before she stepped through the doors and they closed; sealing the three men in the Briefing Room.

Sheppard perched on the table next to Rodney and looked at him in concern as the scientist hung his head down sadly and closed his eyes. Radek was already closely sitting next to Rodney on his left side. They flanked him with their unconditional support and friendship, where he sat downcast with a heavy cloud of depression resting upon his shoulders and overwhelming him. But even with both Radek and John there with him, he still looked miserable.

John asked, "So, are you going to tell us what's up, Rodney?"

Radek felt the need to justify his inclusion in the meeting so he added, "The base is destroyed along with all the robots. You should be happy, yes?"

Rodney lifted the hand pressed against his lower belly away and moved it up to hold onto the side of his chest. He continued to look away from them and didn't make eye contact.

John furrowed his brow at Radek, who returned a bemused expression. John then stood up and grabbed a chair. He pulled it up alongside Rodney and sat down so that they were at the same level.

They sat like that for several minutes, only the occasional soft hitch in Rodney's breathing breaking the silence. Still he remained pensive and withdrawn and Radek spoke up, "Everything is better now, Rodney. The robots have gone, you are healing, I am nearly better…"

"No," Rodney said abruptly.

Sheppard leant in and studied Rodney's face intensely, "No, what?"

"No, things aren't better. They're worse."

Radek frowned in confusion and Sheppard vocalised his thoughts, "I thought Carson said the only trauma to your head was the bruising along your jaw? It didn't affect your brain as well, did it? How can things possibly be worse?"

Rodney sighed and closed his eyes. He said quietly, "I broke." He looked up for the first time and glared at Radek, "When it started on you… I couldn't take it." He looked down again and shut his eyes. "I'm weak and pathetic. I broke under torture before – just a few papercuts - and I did again."

"It was more than papercuts," John said solemnly. "And it was either that or get permanently injured or killed. It's better to break than to be seriously hurt."

Radek furrowed his brow, "It allowed you to bluff anyway, and fix the robot to help us."

Rodney dismissed him, "That was all luck. It was only luck that I spotted the correct line of code and found a workaround fast enough that Unit 318 didn't suspect anything."

Sheppard placed his hand on Rodney's back and Radek felt the strong urge to do something similar to try and physically soothe Rodney's mental anguish. John said, "But you did. You're alive, although not quite whole yet. Radek's alive."

Zelenka nodded and smiled as Rodney looked sidelong at him.

Sheppard continued, "And another threat to the Pegasus, indeed the whole universe, has now gone thanks to our resident genius right here."

Rodney started to perk up a bit and his mouth became flat where it had been curved down in a constant sad grimace for days.

John grabbed Rodney's arm and hauled him upright. He grinned at Rodney and said, "Come on. I think this is cause for a celebration!"

Radek grabbed his crutches and pushed himself up. He smiled at John and Rodney and said, "I agree."

John nodded as he helped Rodney over to the door. "How about we take the afternoon off? We could spend some time out in the sun on one of the piers. Perhaps Radek's got something which will lighten the mood."

"I am unsure what you mean, Colonel," Radek said with a sly smile as his mind wandered to the stash of contraband alcohol, chocolate and coffee in his quarters. He may have let slip the existence of the hidden crate in his discussions with Sheppard about how to get Rodney back to his old self. Besides, it was about to be replenished in a couple of days anyway by his contact on the Daedalus.

Rodney's lips did twitch upwards at that and he gave the other two men a painfully small smile, before his face fell in annoyance and he said, "But there's so much work to do. I can't leave the lab for five minutes these days without someone trying to blow something up or activate something that could be dangerous and might even end up trying to kill them."

Radek said calmly, "It is alright, Rodney. I left strict instructions for no-one to touch anything for the rest of the day."

"You…" Rodney floundered. "You knew about this?"

Radek felt a knot easing inside his chest as Rodney continued to rant all the way to the transporter. The sound of the other man's voice raised in anger and irritation was like music to his ears and soul. His friend was going to be alright. It would take time for Rodney's mental wounds to heal, but he now knew that they were well on the way to getting better along with his physical ones.

Fin.

_A/N – This is also the third and final part of my 'Rodney gets tortured' trilogy (Part one was Reavengeance II, part two was Intimate Torture) Not that I could ever promise him that he won't get hurt again… poor Rodney!_


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